So we spent the second night at Sunil’s family home, from which we could look straight across the valley (and down a bit) at our place, three beeline kms away, but we had to descend from around 2600 m down to cross the Chugounti river at 1720 m then back up to the farm at … Continue reading Three (or Four) Day Trek, last bit.

So we’re heading up the ridge from Baghi to Hatu through wonderfully human-free forest, largely of kharshu oak, with some cedar and bamboo, and the Forest Department has done a great job of planting chestnut. Increasingly over the last couple of years we’ve seen more and more replanting going on, and forest clean ups – … Continue reading Three Day Trek (Part Three)

So we made it to the spring below Chambi Peak by three in the afternoon, having set off from the farm at 7.15, and now we had to walk along the road for 2.5 hours to reach Baghi Rest House (BRH) for the night. Next time we do this route we will take tents … Continue reading Three Day Trek (Part Two)

Sauk ki Dhank - picnic breakfast. The true left is on the left. Our farm, if I may say ‘our’ – in the very loosest of senses – is roughly half-way up a valley at about 2000 metres, on the ‘true left’. The true left and right of a valley refer (by trekkers, fishermen, pedants and … Continue reading Three Day Trek (Part One)

The Autumn Equinox, 2018 “Pop down and pick a sprig of mint,” My mother said Late one sunny spring Sunday morning The new potatoes my father’d lifted Coming up to the boil I picked a large sprig from the patch poking Under the beech hedge by the oil tank Where the go-karts and … Continue reading Sunday Lunch

It's always a pleasure to come across someone who enjoys their work, however humble. Lakshmi is a constant inspiration in that regard - a smile is never far from her lips, whether she's vacating a constipated cow's rectum or flapping out the chapatti - it's all part of life's rich tapestry. It's always good to … Continue reading The Tin Man

There are more stray dogs in India than you can shake a stick at. A couple of years ago, for example, someone tried counting the dog population of Chennai (aka Madras) and came up with the figure of 170,000. If we assume the population of Chennai to be very roughly 10 million that’s 0.017 … Continue reading Bobby’s Dream

As part of our ongoing research into the travels of an early 19th century British explorer and artist, we set off on a short road trip the other day with the intention of visiting the scene of a battle which he painted in 1815. It was between the then occupying forces of the Nepalese … Continue reading The Siege of Jytock

Today's object is the Phurbu, or Phurpa, or Kila in Sanskrit, which we think was acquired in Kathmandu in the 1980s, and is a Buddhist dagger used in tantric and / or shamanic practices. It has small amounts of wax left in a couple of nooks and crannies which supports the supposition that it is … Continue reading Phurbu – the Magic Dagger